


After The Stars Fade

by loves_books



Series: Under Starry Skies [2]
Category: The A-Team (2010), The A-Team - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 06:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1255729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loves_books/pseuds/loves_books
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What could happen once Face and Hannibal are rescued after spending Valentine's Day stranded together in the desert</p>
            </blockquote>





	After The Stars Fade

The morning after, Hannibal will wake to the blinding brightness of the desert sun and the unmistakeable sound of a chopper growing near. Face will still be asleep in his arms, cuddled as close as can be, though his breathing will be worse than before and his lips tinged a worrying blue. Hannibal’s injured leg will scream in pain when he tries to move, and so they will just lie there a little longer, side by side in the sand, until Murdock lands nearby.

BA will help them both to climb into the chopper, barely speaking a word though his relief at finding them will be obvious, and his jaw will be clenched tight against his fear of flying. He will do it for his team, as he always does. On the flight back to the base, Hannibal will sit close by Face’s side, his leg stretched out as much as it can be, while Face will continue to gasp for air, his cheeks pale.

They won’t talk about what happened between them, not on that long flight in the early morning sunshine, and not when they finally land and the medics crowd around. They won’t speak about it, but Hannibal will hold his boy’s hand tightly, and Face will smile back at him despite his pain. It will be a blinding smile, brighter than that desert sun, and his eyes will be bluer than the sky above. And Hannibal will know for sure that he didn’t dream it.

Face will have to stay in the medical tent for observation, at least overnight. Five cracked ribs and one actually broken, and the medics will think that one must have shifted slightly during their night in the desert, just enough to damage the lieutenant’s lung.

Hannibal will blame himself, even as his leg is being wrapped in a cast to keep it immobilised, and he will refuse to stay in bed, keeping on at the doctors until they finally give in and bring him a pair of crutches. He will apologise to Face when he finally returns to his boy’s side, though he won’t be able to say everything he wants to. Not there.

But Face will know, anyway, as Face always knows. He will tell Hannibal it was no one’s fault; even if he’d laid flat and still all night, his ribs might still have shifted. And he will tell Hannibal how cold he’d been in that desert, how much he appreciated his colonel letting them share body heat the way they had. 

And Hannibal will understand everything Face can’t say. That it was worth it, to have that night together beneath the stars. That wonderful night when they confessed their feelings. When they shared the first of hopefully many kisses.

But they won’t talk about it, they can’t. They won’t talk about it when Face is released back into the care of his team two days later, nor when all four of them catch a transport back to the State three days after that. Hannibal’s leg will need at least a fortnight in plaster, after the doctors find the sprained knee is complicated by several torn ligaments. He’ll need some physiotherapy after that, too, before it will be strong enough to let him back out into the field, and since Face will also have to take it easy for at least a month, the whole team will be given down time.

Hannibal and Face still won’t talk about it, though. Not when they land back home at last after months away. Not when BA says he’ll stay on base for a few days to catch up with some old friends who aren’t often in the area. Not even when Murdock is asked to step in for another pilot on some top-secret test flights.

They won’t talk about it, but the looks they exchange will speak volumes to anyone watching who knows them well. Looks that will be filled with excitement, promise and secrets shared. Looks filled with longing and lust, too, as two very different pairs of blue eyes keep drifting back to one another. Look of lust that could be, might be, love. They will barely be able to restrain themselves. They will both want to find out if it can really work between them. They won’t want to wait.

They will wait, of course, because they will have to. Both Hannibal and Face will know they have to wait, until finally, finally, finally they are home together. Alone, at last, in the house just off-base where Hannibal has lived for more than a decade. The house where Face stayed after Sosa left him, unable to stand the memories in his own tiny studio apartment. The house Face somehow never left, living easily and happily alongside his colonel ever since. They never talked about that, either.

Alone at last, they will want to tear each other’s clothes off and take their time discovering each other’s bodies. They will want to spend hours in bed together, or days even. They will want to do everything all at once, but they won’t.

Because Hannibal’s knee will be screaming in pain once again, and he will need to take a couple of the strong painkillers, the ones he hates because they make him pass out and drool over himself. And because Face will be beyond exhausted by then, his aching ribs and barely healed lung begging for him to find a soft flat surface on which to lie down.

So that first day they will spend hours in bed, but they will do little but sleep. They will sleep side by side at least, in a bed this time rather than shivering together in the sand beneath a starry desert sky. And they still won’t talk about it, even when Face makes sure Hannibal’s wounded knee is raised and cushioned on soft pillows. Not even when Hannibal falls asleep with one hand resting gently on his boy’s battered chest, just so he can feel that Face is still breathing.

The morning afterwards, after they both sleep a full twelve hours side by side, they won’t need to talk about it either. The time for talking will have passed – Hannibal will kiss Face awake, finding that his boy’s lips are just as soft as he knew they would be, and learning quickly how responsive Face really is when he isn’t in quite as much pain as he must have been back in the desert.

They will kiss for a long, long time that first morning, relishing the time and space they now have to really enjoy each other. They will both have dreamed of this moment for years, and they will both discover that the reality is far better than they could have hoped. Hannibal will learn that Face whimpers softly when he gently suckles at his lower lip, and Face will love the growl he gets when he strokes his tongue across Hannibal’s palate. 

But they will both still be hurting, sadly, and so kissing will be all they do that morning, though they will do it for hours. No reason to rush, no reason to hurry – they will both be on medical stand down, after all, and the doctors will have told them to lie down as much as possible. They will only be following medical orders, the kissing merely an added bonus. An incentive to get well as quickly as they can.

They will behave themselves, mostly, for almost an entire week, and they still won’t talk about it. Hannibal will think they are just letting their lips do all the talking for them, though he won’t say that out loud for fear of making his boy laugh so hard he injures his healing ribs all over again.

After a week of tender kissing, of gentle cuddling on the sofa and holding hands as tightly as they can, Hannibal will be the one who decides the time has come. He promised his boy he would spoil him, after all, back when they lay together under that thin blanket in the desert, the stars shining above them.

As much as he will want to take Face out on date number one, the date involving a restaurant and an evening at the theatre followed by a walk under the stars, he will come to the conclusion that it must be date number two. The take-out-and-dvd date.

The date Face had said he would prefer, actually, which will make Hannibal feel a little better, a little less disappointed. There will be time later for wining and dining and romance, all the time in the world, hopefully. But right at that moment he will still be on crutches, his leg still in plaster for at least another week, and Face will still be in some pain, turning pale and breathing hard when he twists awkwardly. 

He will remember all the important details, though. He will call Luigi’s himself, Face’s favourite restaurant, and he will use all his powers of persuasion to talk them into delivering the perfect meal, direct to their home. It won’t matter that they don’t actually do deliveries, as a general rule – Hannibal can be almost as good at sweet-talking his way to a favour as Face is, when he has to be.

With the food all organised for later that evening, Hannibal will take his time setting the scene carefully. He will lay their rarely-used dining table with the good china plates, rather than the disposable ones they tend to use to save on the washing up, and he will pull out the candles he keeps in case of emergencies. He will make sure they have a few new DVDs to choose from, as well as a few old favourites close at hand. The final choice will be Face’s, of course, as it should be.

When Face gets out of the shower, he will find Hannibal waiting for him with a single red rose, the smell of the finest Italian food known to man drifting up from the dining room. He will smile, and blush, somehow not surprised even though they won’t have talked about this. He will kiss Hannibal softly, thanking the older man as he accepts the rose, and he will dress quickly, stomach growling with hunger.

They will sit down to dinner soon after, both of them dressed in smart yet comfortable clothes. They will sit side by side at the table, rather than facing each other, and Hannibal will rest his bad leg on the opposite chair. They will talk a little as they eat, soft music playing in the background as the candlelight casts gentle shadows in the room, but mostly they will just take pleasure in each other’s company.

Hannibal will brush his fingers over Face’s when his boy reaches for his glass of wine – he will have done his research, to Face’s delight, and found the perfect red to go with his boy’s favourite pasta, even though he personally thinks that all red wine tastes the same. The electricity between them will become almost unbearable as they whisper in each other’s ears, Hannibal leaning close to offer Face a taste of his linguini from his fork, Face holding Hannibal’s gaze for far too long when their eyes meet.

Dinner could last for days or weeks, but instead it will only be a few short hours before Hannibal takes his boy’s hand and escorts him into the living room, where the sofa will be ready and waiting for them. There will be cushions piled high and a cosy blanket to the side, and Face will smile widely when he sees more candles.

Hannibal will stretch out first, letting Face fluff up a pillow for his bad leg, before he urges his boy to lie down too, beside him. They will watch two films back to back, one action movie and one rom-com, slowly sipping at their wine as Face is cuddled close in Hannibal’s strong arms. As the third film starts, Hannibal will reach beneath the sofa and produce a large box of his boy’s favourite chocolates, the ones with the praline centres he loves so much. Face will laugh with delight, kissing Hannibal again and again, before they settle once more, even closer than before.

Hannibal will barely remember anything about that third movie, and he will doubt Face could tell anyone much more than the basic plot either. He will be far too focussed on the way his boy shifts ever closer into his arms, his bruised chest warm against Hannibal’s, his long legs entwined carefully with Hannibal’s own. He will be concentrating on how soft Face’s hair truly is, when it brushes his cheek every time his boy lifts his head to accept another chocolate from Hannibal’s proffering fingers. Every bit as soft as he always imagined, free now from the sweat and sand of the desert, curling softly around Face’s head.

He will be lost in the brightness of his boy’s smile, and the happiness shining in those incredible blue eyes. So much brighter than any stars in the sky. 

They will always consider that evening to be their first real date, when they look back on their lives and their relationship in years to come. There will be many other dates, more typical dates perhaps, and certainly more obvious, but this will always be their first. Once his leg is out of the cast and he can walk without crutches, Hannibal will take Face to the theatre, both of them dressed in their finest suits, and they will walk home hand in hand beneath the stars, just talking. And once his ribs heal fully, after another long month on medical stand down after he bruises them again trying to train too soon, after all that Face will take Hannibal out too, to the finest restaurants he knows, including Luigi’s. Nothing too posh, he will always think, knowing his man is never as comfortable as he is in a formal suit.

They will go on more creative dates, too, less predictable scenarios. They will visit amusement parks and festivals, and go on picnics and camping trips. Some will be terrible, and they will laugh before agreeing never to do that again – for example, Face will learn that taking Hannibal to a rave is a particularly bad idea. Some dates will be unexpected and unplanned, such as the time their rental car breaks down on their way to a conference – the only nearby accommodation will be an old cabin by a lake, and they will spend a romantic evening in front of a roaring log fire.

Hannibal and Face will always make time for date night, no matter how much Murdock and BA tease them gently about it. Time alone together just for them will always be precious, especially doing the jobs they do, and it will only become more precious once the whole mess with the plates happens, followed by the nightmare of imprisonment, jail breaks, and the chaos of the LA docks. But even once they go on the run they will make time for each other, keeping their love alive, keeping it fresh, taking it in turns to surprise each other. They will always be surprised, especially by how much their love grows stronger as the years pass by.

That first date will always be special, though. They will lie together on that sofa until the early hours of the morning, long after the third film has ended and the TV has turned itself to static. Face will be the first to yawn, his slender body heavy in Hannibal’s arms, and Hannibal will gently suggest they call it a night. They will walk upstairs hand in hand, after Face has checked the doors are all locked and Hannibal has extinguished the last of the candles.

They will take their time getting ready for bed, stopping frequently to exchange soft kisses and to brush tender hands over each other’s bodies as they slowly peel off their clothes. Face will help Hannibal limp to the bathroom, and Hannibal will watch to make sure Face takes his pills, even as he swallows his own.

They won’t make love that night – not on the first date, Face will whisper with a smile against Hannibal’s skin – but they will sleep together all the same. They won’t actually make love until their fourth date, two weeks from that first night, once their injuries are a little more healed. It will be perfect, of course, or at least as perfect as any first time can ever be. They won’t get it quite right, and Hannibal will rush a little too much in his eagerness, and Face will accidentally head-butt his lover at one point, but it will still be perfect nonetheless, because it will be them. Together at last, as they always should have been, and it will only get better as their love grows and they learn exactly what works for them.

No, they won’t make love on their first date, but they will fall asleep in each other’s arms, and they will dream together. Not the same dream, of course, but happy dreams for both of them, dreams of love and hope and excitement that this thing between them might just work after all. That they might each be able to have what they had thought was out of the question – a tiny piece of love and peace, in two lives filled so often with blood and violence. 

They will wonder if they would ever have reached that point, sleeping peacefully together after their first date, if they hadn’t spent that night together beneath the stars. Both Hannibal and Face will always deny they are romantic men, but on every Valentine’s Day they can, when they aren’t in a warzone or running from the law, they will find somewhere peaceful where they can lie side by side beneath the stars, and remember how it all began.


End file.
